Comments on: More Lousy TV Commercials? No Thanks

By: SomeguyinKorea

SomeguyinKorea — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:35:57 +0000

#4,

Try watching Korean cable TV in the evening. A TV show ends on the hour and is followed by 4 to 5 minutes of ads. Then, the logo at the opening credits of the following show pops up for, oh, 5 seconds only to be followed by the same ads once again, and then the opening credits are finally shown in their entirety. But, they don’t show the TV show, oh no. It’s the same ads again, then 5 minutes of ‘home shopping’, followed by the same ads before the TV show finally begins. You’ve basically wasted 30 minutes of you life waiting being bombarded with advertisement…and you sit through it every night because they keep you guessing all the time. Sometimes it’s only 15 minutes of commercials and ‘home shopping’ so you end up missing half of the show because you expected it to begin at half-past the hour.

By: skindleshanks

skindleshanks — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 03:16:01 +0000

HanaTV–not a great deal of selection, but they pretty much have what you’d get on cable, and the only ads run for about 90 seconds while the show is streaming.

The main downside is that all the menus are Korean, and anything “new” is pay-per-view (although not outrageously priced, IMO).

By: McGenghis

McGenghis — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:12:42 +0000

I agree with wjk that the Korean style commercials are better, because it’s almost as if they don’t exist. If you go to the “shupeo” between shows, or do your washing then, or whatever, you’ll have a seamless television experience. Discovery Channel does not count.

By: bumfromkorea

bumfromkorea — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:46:08 +0000

Hehe… Constantine is one of the very few films where casting Keanu Reeves is a good thing. He plays that cold, distant, emotionless hero (or anti-hero) very well. I just find it hilarious when he tries to be in romantic movies.

I do like watching Scrubs, The Office, and Heroes, but it does seem that most of the air time has been occupied by mindless sitcoms, reality shows, and quiz shows with ‘creative’ ’spins’.

I mean, when you cancel shows like Arrested Development and Firefly (… yes, I still hope that some network will pick it up again)… Yep. Dead zombies.

By: Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog)

Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:23:13 +0000

They’ve been running “Constantine” a lot recently, too. And truthfully, I don’t think it’s that bad of a film.

That’s it, Koehler. You’re off the cynics list. Poser.

By: mins0306

mins0306 — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:11:52 +0000

It’s a good thing I didn’t sign up for cable TV.

By: R. Elgin

R. Elgin — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:26:52 +0000

On Korean cable, they keep putting these jumping or scrolling ads on top or on bottom of the screen, which is extremely annoying, not to mention periodically running ads, which may be short or long. I quit watching almost everything, partly because of this and also because the programming is poor. The food-advertising porn is so bad that it is funny. Watching some ajumma tear into a pepper-paste coated crab with this ecstatic look on her face is indescribable and sometimes pushes me to do spontaneous voice-overs of moaning and grunting.

Due to all of this, I am expanding my DVD collection to classic American TV like the Beverly Hillbillies, just to take up the slack as I patiently wait for the KBC to kill off their viewers.

P.S. contemporary American TV is a dead, walking zombie. R.I.P., with a stake through your cold, tasteless heart.

By: Robert Koehler

Robert Koehler — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:24:45 +0000

That many commercials, plus the only programs allowed to be aired are CSI spinoffs and re-runs of Spiderman 2.

That’s not true. They’ve been running “Constantine” a lot recently, too. And truthfully, I don’t think it’s that bad of a film.

By: Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog)

Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:15:45 +0000

That many commercials, plus the only programs allowed to be aired are CSI spinoffs and re-runs of Spiderman 2.

By: Robert Koehler

Robert Koehler — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:12:57 +0000

Are there really that many commercials on Korean cable TV?